The present invention relates generally to the field of electrical immobilization weapons of the type which impart an electrical impulse to immobilize a human target by inducing involuntary muscular contractions, and more particularly, to an improved ammunition cartridge for the electrical discharge weapon which provides for a replaceable cartridge designed to expand the operational limits of the weapon by having an adjustable barrel pressure or geometry or an adjustable dart firing angle.
Electrical discharge weapons, commonly sold under the trademark TASER, are weapons that connect a human target to a remote electrical power supply by means of a pair of darts and trailing conductors, so that the human target can be disabled by an electrical shock from the weapon. The typical power supply of an electrical discharge weapon produces low amperage shocks of 50 KV. Human beings can be disabled by shocks of much lower voltage, however, the higher voltage is needed to ionize air paths, so electrical currents can penetrate otherwise insulated garments worn by the human target to complete the shocking circuit through the body. 50 KV from a typical electrical discharge weapon will arc across an air gap of approximately two inches.
Typical ammunition cartridges for electrical discharge weapons launch their darts by the force of explosion of a chemical propellant (primer fired), or by force resulting from the release of compressed gas or spring tension. Previous primer fired ammunition cartridges are substantially rectangular in shape, and formed of a high impact plastic housing and include wire chambers positioned adjacent interior walls of the housing. The chambers open at an exit surface and are positioned at an angle with respect to each other within the cartridge housing.
When the power supply for the weapon is energized, electrical current travels from a power supply electrode to the primer and sparks through the propellant where it arcs therefrom to the conductor in the wire chamber. The current then travels through the conductor to the attached dart assembly and arcs therefrom across the exit surface to the second dart assembly. The current continues to travel through its attached conductor to an opposed electrode of the power supply, or vice versa, depending on the polarity of the supply transformer poles. The propellant contained in the primer detonates and launches the darts from the cartridge. The darts separate from each other in angled flight, and open the detonation circuit as its current can no longer complete an arc path between the darts. If the darts come within arcing distance of a human target, the shocking circuit will complete through and disable the target.
A problem with currently available ammunition cartridges is that because barrel geometries and the angle between barrels is fixed, the effectiveness between near and extended ranges is limited. For maximum effectiveness, a dart spread at the target of 5-18 inches must be maintained. This is a problem with existing ammunition cartridges because achieving optimal dart separation at closer ranges results in too much separation at longer ranges causing one of the darts to miss the target completely. Consequently a need exists for an improved ammunition cartridge which expands the operational limits of an electrical discharge weapon and maximizes its effectiveness through adjusting dart spread.